The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-08-27
TARIFF REFORM.

|
TARIFF REFORM,
EDiToRs FREE TRADER: Not only the
lowest level of prices, but the highest level
Of national prosperity, was reached In the
decide from 1850 10 1860 under the low es'
tariff in our industrial history. II is known
as the free trade tariff" because the ele
ment Of protection was studious and
largely excluded therefrom. Though a
free trade nation, Great Britain collects Il
! hundred millions per annum from duties
upon imports. IL is free trade, however
| because every vestige Of protection l.
stripped from her tariff. So jealousy Is
this principle guarded that an equal excs
duty ia levied wherever an import duty Is
imposed, which permits the foreigner q
stand in her markets upon an equality with
the most favored Englishman. The -oun.
tervailing excise duty, upon any article that
pays a customs duty, gives not the slightest
advantage to the home manufacturer, and
carries every dollar Of taxation TO the Brit.
isl exchequer. Her tariff is confined to
| but faw articles, some fourteen in mum.
Der, and but two or three of these are pro.
duced in B'itain. Thus upon tobaccOs she
collects duty OF fij 000O 900; upon liquors,
S2S 100000; upon teas, So, 100000, and
the remaining SjOOO,OO0 upon coffee, cur.
rants prunes, figs, chickory, cocoa, chocp
late &c.
Free trade England collects duty Of
S22,0OO,OOO upon tea; protection America
admits Tea duty free, but collects $4,000.
600 per anuum upon wOoleus, which Brit.
ain admits duty free. And these examples
illustrate the difference between free trade
and protection. Great Britain imports all
the tea she consumes, We import bu. about
one fifth Of the wOolens We consume. The
duty upon tea raises is price TO the con
sumer by the amount of the tax imposed
aud there the taxation ends, while the duty
upon woolens not only raises the price of
the one fifth imported, by the amount of
the duty collected, but increases the cost 10
the consumers Of the other four-ffths in
the same proportion, thus taxing the naricn
two hundred millions, of which only forty
millions enters the federal treasury, while
the other hundred and sixty millions Is ex-
torted from the mass of the people for the
benefit of class of the people, and this Is
protection. The difference Is apparent.
A tariff for revenue is intended to give to
the government what it takes from the pc =.
pie. A tariff for protection is intended to
give to the few what it takes from the
many.
The ratio of importation to production
shows at glance how the taxation upon
any article is divided between tn. govern
ment and the private corporations and In.
dividuals In whose interest and for whose
benefit the tariff Is imposed. As We pro-
duce twenty times as much iron as We I'm.
port, the duty upon iron gives about $50 TO
the iron interests, where the goyernment
gets but one. The cuty upon wooden
blankets EFFORTS $500 from the people
where 1t furnishes bat one for revenue. In
In 1879 the government collected but 81 200
duty upon importation of blankets; yet the
tariff increased the cost of blankets con.
sumed by over $1,000, 600, thus wringing
over $4,000 from the people for every dol.
lar II furnished as revenue to the govern.
ment. In the same manner SO are ex.
torted from the people through duty
upon steel rails TO one that is furnished for
revenue. And for every dollar received
by the government from duty upon copper,
forty are eXtorted from the people; and for
lead, to get dollar Into the treasury, fifty
are taken from them. The duty upon nickle
Is 30 cents per pound. 1t Is prohibitory
Here protection Is perfect, rs 1t turns all
taxation into the mine owner, and takes not
penny for revenue. A paternal & 'vern
ment not only purchases the n'ckle for
coinage after having first doubled Its price
by law, but by prohibiting importation II
forbids competition, letters the market of
the nation by force of law, and turns It
bound PROSTATE over 10 few petted and
privileged cormorants to plumber at their
will. This is protection; and 1t Is evident
il is most perfect where II furnishes least
to the government while taking most from
the people. Ii Is taxation levied with view
to private gain rather than to- public bene-
tit. II Is taxation many times greater than
Is needed for federal purposes taxation
neither collected by the government nor
used In Its support; a sheer unauthorized
loan of the powers of the government to
favored few TO enable them to plunder the
many through the forms of the law, thus
prostitutirg the powers of the government
to accomplish the very object that all just
gov ernmeut was created to prevent; for
we're 1t not that one would plumber and OPP
pres another, that one part of community
would invade the rights OF the other unless
restrained, government would be unneces-
sary. All just government is organized to
protect each against the encroachment OF
the other, and not to protect one or one part
of a community at the expense Of the other.
Whenever, therefore, under whatever pre-
tense, the authority OF the government Is
employed to protect one part Of commun'
ity at the expense OF the other, 1t Is used to
establish the very condition, to secure the
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